Today is my birthday, and for my birthday I thought it would be nice to get started prepping the blog for the new garden season.
I have been running behind all Spring due to other commitments, and just checked in on the blog today and then went to see how all my favorite bloggers are doing. The first thing I saw was a Goodbye Granny post... apparently I missede out on a lot this Spring. Granny has been battling cancer and passed away yesterday. I am broken-hearted. It's a strange thing how the internet can be the sole connection between two people yet a strong enough connection for affection, respect, and even love to travel over it. Despite not knowing someone's name, phone number, age, or background... internet friendships are proof that love is blind. I never met Granny, never saw her smile or heard her laugh or watched her plant a single seed, but I still loved her for all the things about her that she shared in her blog. Her love of her garden, her family, and cooking up delicious homemade food was obvious in her writing; her sense of humor, strength of character, and brilliant mind were also obvious. These were the things that led me and so many others to love her dearly and we will miss her every time we see hollyhocks as tall as trees, and walla walla sweet onions as big as cantaloupes; and we will think of her every year when we pick our first tomato in June or July and laugh to ourselves about how Granny's tomatoes somehow, almost magically, were always first ready in May!
The downside to losing someone who was just an online friend is the knowledge that once they are gone, the tie is severed. You won't be at the service, can't send a card or flowers to their family, and to the people you know IRL you are greiving an invisible friend. How can you grieve the loss of someone you never met? It's surreal to feel this way and realize it's like watching a beloved character die in a movie, except you can't just restart the movie, you just feel sad. Granny is the second online friend I have lost to cancer. She probably won't be the last; I still grieve for Ell, I will probably grieve for Granny for a long time too. Just because I and the other people like me didn't know their faces doesn't mean we don't have every right to grieve their loss. Remember that.
My blog may be sporadic but I will try to post on occasion and keep updating the progress of the garden.
